The Time to Respond | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from at church. We hope this message

will light up your day. There are some things that I want to teach

today, as you all have noticed and realized. No, we are coming

through different seasons as the church grows and develops and progresses. You know,

time and timing is something that uh. You know, I I sometimes sit

down and ponder and reflect upon it. Or what have I done with the

time that I have? You know? I go in uh to to to

the juvenile detention center, uh somewhere somewhere near where Elder Terrance stays. I

can't remember the place is Alam or something like that. Uh. So there

is a correctional facility. It's called a correctional facility for juveniles. And I

volunteered together with Chan, So me and Chan we go in maybe and some

money uh to run what they call Class Christian. So basically the done line

line can join the Class Christian. Uh. Anyone, anyone who is not

from the majority faith is more than welcome to come for the Christian Class,

which actually a lot of them do come because even though they are not Christians,

it's not like they got anything else better to do. Uh. In

the correctional facility. So they actually sometimes do look forward uh when on a

weekly basis Malaysian Care, when we work closely with Malaysian Care, they actually

send volunteers in to conduct Christian classes with the I think the proper world of

calling them is inmates. I think, okay with the inmates for all boys

correctional facility. And I just want to tell you this our our correctional facilities.

Ah, it's not really a five star accommodation, uh, you know,

to be honest, and really it's it's it's really overpacked. It's overpacked

because the Malaysian jail system itself is very packed. And so this is the

problem that the juvenile correctional facilities face is that because there's no space to put

older inmates in your Sungai Below or your Kajang prisons. The prisons actually work

in areas. One that means certain prisons are supposed to accommodate the people around

certain regions, and so Sungai Below and Kajang is the two main prisons in

the southern region or in the central region here in kal And, a lot

of it's always full, and so when it's full, they actually put adults

in the juvenile center, which it doesn't really help because you all understand sometimes

you know, even you, we try to manage like age groups right now.

It's a it's a very normal thing. If you run the program and

you have kids which are like fifteen years old and then kids that are five

years old, you put them all together. Some days you're like, oh

man, the fifteen year olds are saying things that the fires like. And

then they are like, is there true? It happens, and so that's

happening actually, because that's the danger of putting adult inmates together with the jewvis

because the jewvies technically after a certain age, they will be released once they

pay their dues. So anyway, I go for this Christian class and I

don't mind. It's really something that I can just share the gospel and they

got nowhere to go, so they're there. It's literally captivated audience. In

fact, their audience in captivela. Okay, however you want to look at

it. It sounds funny, but it's true, and I think it that

this is what the Lord has called us to do. I finally understood a

little bit more about prison ministry, uh and why people continue to do it

because you'll be surprised what kind of impact you can make. And so Bassa,

Sandra's late father was really involved through his church in f GA, and

FG continues to do this prison ministry very very well. Uh. And you

know, just one and a half hours, I get to say whatever I

need to say, and they got to just sit down there and listen to

it. But then after that, there's always a time and we will listen

to them. Uh, and they will tell us why they're in there.

Uh. And I can tell you some of the charges that they're in is

heavy. It's charges that will actually eventually lead to a death penalty, whether

it's Study nine B, which is trafficking or drugs to murder, you know,

some way, it's really heavy and science. We always ask them,

you know, how how did you end up in this situation? And they

always say wrong time, wrong place. You know, it's almost like as

a matter of fact or something, just timing. I mean no, if

I time myself better, bait, maybe I wouldn't have been caught. That's

how they that's how they actually look at it. Whether there is remorse,

whether there is uh uh, rehabilitation, I don't know. I pray I

pray that the correction of facilities and please pray that the correctional facilities who be

able to do their job in rehabilitating uh the young people because it's important.

But incidences of there's something called rescidivism. If you study I don't know what

areas, maybe social sciences, but if you understand when you bring someone into

captive because of punishment, you try to rehabilitate the person so that he can

he or she can go out and become a normal, respectful member of society

again and contribute to society and not cause chaos. Uh. Recidivism is just

the likelihood of them going back to doing what is what they were used to

and what they knew how to do. That it is going back into a

life of criminalism is actually very high here in Malaysia and in fact around the

world. That's the reality of it. Sometimes we don't know whether what kind

of rehabilitation works, what kind of correctional methods work. This is something that's

ongoing. It's still being chatted out and worked out. But you know,

we continue to do this with Malaysian Care because Malaysian Care is really big on

trying to make sure that if they come out, let us meet them,

let us train them, let us prepare them to go back into society.

If they come out and they have family members who reject them, which is

a lot. A lot of them come out and the families don't want to

receive them back into their households, and so Malaysia Care actually provides halfway houses

they call it like halfway houses for them to come, be trained, be

accepted, and try very hard to try to integrate them back into society.

So this is something that we need to continue to pray and believe that God

is going to do something through the great efforts that different Christian bodies and Christians

are actually doing. But what they always tell me is wrong time, I

mean, got caught, And I'm like, well, I really pray and

hope that they come out and they come out change. I believe God's word

can change lives, and we continue to believe that and that's why we do

what we do. But I want to talk about time today, time and

seasons. This is basically where I'm getting at, and I hope I won't

take too long, but I want to go into the portion of Scripture that

a lot of us love reading at least is taken from Ecclesiastics Chapter three,

Versus one to fifteen. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn

to it Ecclesiastics chapter three, versus one to fifteen, and we're going to

be reading it from the NLT. It says a time for everything. That's

what it says. We love it. I mean, I always use this

scripture to preach during funerals, actually not like this is a funeral service.

But I want us to have an understanding and a deeper understanding of this portion

of scripture because I think there is something very powerful that we can glean from

God's word right here, even though it sounds very philosophical when we read.

In fact, when you read any portions of Ecclesiastics, it's quite philosophical because

this is King Solomon in his latter years, in his later years, before

he before he got put okay, and he was in this contemplative and reflective

mode, and he's just going like he's he's thinking out loud. Literally,

some of these thoughts are being panal and he's thinking out loud. Okay,

So let's read it. I'm going to read from the NLT. You can

follow, and then after our delve straight into the world. Okay, For

everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A

time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and

a time to harve us, a time time to kill and a time to

heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A

time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a

time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to

search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time

to throw away. A time to tear and a time to men. A

time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and

a time to hate, A time for war and a time for peace.

Verse nine. What do people really get for all their hard work? I

have seen the burden God has placed on us all Yet God has made everything

beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.

But even so people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to

end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy

ourselves as long as we can, and people should eat and drink and enjoy

the fruits of their label, for these are gifts from God verse fourteen.

And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to

it or taken from it. God's purpose is that people should fear Him.

What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future

has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

Amen, Lord, bless the reading of His word. How many of

your love that portion of scripture. Yeah, it's a it's it's deep.

It's actually really deep some of the things you read like hmm, okay,

we'll give you a bit of a thought. But there is essentially a time

for everything. It starts with birth. Then eventually we will come to a

time and a clock stop sticking for each one of us. Uh. And

you cannot alter any of them. It's already something that has been said,

and we have this what I call a very precious commodity called time. Many

of us, maybe from different social statuses, I may earn a different salary

from you. This is how I may do certain things. But the truth

of the matter is we all have twenty four hours a day to spend.

What we do with the twenty four hours really determines what our life would be

like, what our future beholds. In fact, what we do with the

time decides where we spend eternity. That's what the scripture here says. And

so it's important because you're talking about eternity, you know, and I can

tell you this, it's a long time. Eternity is a long time soles

we don't even want to think about it. But the reality is we will

spend eternity somewhere with someone. But it really depends on the decisions that we

make today. So it's a very important subject. And we have often heard

this passage, no a time for this, a time for that, time

for the other. I'm not sure what we make out of all this.

Some people actually take the view that it is within our human capacity to decide

the appropriate time to do something. So really it is saying there is a

time and a place for everything, and we should decide it ourselves what we

do, what we do of it. See the trouble with most of the

English translations for this portion of scripture actually gives us a slightly different impression when

it uses as the article er time. Actually, if you study it a

little bit deeper, you realize it's not Earth time, because Earth time will

come through very differently. You will come true almost like it is not your

choice to choose the time. So ultimately we need to understand this. Actually,

the time has already been chosen. It is not so much time that

we get to choose that particular time. But it is third time. Actually,

the Good News Bible translates it the time, the time to die,

the time to be born. And with this you will have sometimes people taking

the other opposite view. If it's third timer, they'd be like, oh,

this is why we call a fatalistic view of life. Everything is already

set, Everything is already in motion. God already wound the clock, and

the clock will just keep going and there's nothing no one can do about it

at all, and we just need to live it. To faith, everything

is predestined and everything is inebitable. You ever ever heard people talk like that.

Actually, a lot of those in the majority faith, that is how

they have their worldview is almost fatalistic in nature. It's whatever it is,

it's outside our control. This is all set already in stone. And we

just need to live it. So we have one where it's humans saying that

I get to choose because it's a time. And then when we say that

it actually it's third time, it's released, and then they go all the

way. Or if it's third time, then whatever it is, it's outside

my control and I've got no say, And that's it. But if we

study the passage carefully, it that it teaches neither of you know, neither

is it our choice to choose what time is it that you dance and what

time is it that you cry? Nor do we have to accept it as

everything is predetermined and inevitable. We don't have to accept it that way.

So the truth actually lies right in between those two extreme views. And what

when we read these scriptures, you'll realize what the scriptures is essentially teaching us

is how to respond to the tides of time. Tides is like a tide.

You know what the tithe is tidal wave? Okay, the wave comes

in and the wave goes out. We call it tithes and ebbs. Okay,

that's the English poetic version of it. So sometimes we you know,

it comes in sometimes it's high time, sometimes it's low tie. Another way

of looking at it is this is a big tapestry. It's a big picture,

it's a big canvas. And then all of us are individuals being weave

in and out like a tread. You don't see the full beauty of it.

You are not able to appreciate its entire purpose and get a full sense

of it. But essentially all of us have a part to play in the

bigger picture. And so how we therefore choose to respond to the tides of

time is what this portion of scripture is teaching us. So what is the

book of Acclesiast is all about? The main question this author, and we

know the author is King Solomon, is asking, is this is life worth

living? What's the point of living? Questions that sometimes we don't even bother

asking, But these really are the most important ones to ask, because if

you don't ask this, then you will end up wasting your time. And

that is what this man Solomon set out to do. He was, as

he reached towards the latter years of his life, are quite disappointed, quite

disillusion and actually quite hopeless. If you reactually justice, He's like, oh,

everything is meaningless, everything is meaningless. No, he goes like that,

he talks like that, and he tried. He tried to get things

with money, He tried to get things with education, He tried to get

things, and he tried to get more pleasures in life, whether it's wine,

women, whatever song. We know he had a lot of it women,

especially too many, just too many. King Solomon is crazy if you

ask me. Whatever he did, but he was trying to find the best

way to use his time because he knew that he only had one life to

live. And now he's looking back and thinking, what is the whole pattern?

Who said the time? What was the point of all this time that

I've spent? What have I got to show for it at the end,

Because you see, you cannot only spend a lot of money and have nothing

to show for it. You can actually also spend a lot of time doing

something and still have nothing to show for it. The prodigal son spend a

lot of time. Actually not just money. I know he spent all his

father's money nothing to show it for it, but he spent a lot of

time partying, and then he came back with nothing to show for it.

So we have been spending a lot of time yesterday, last week, two

months ago, years. Actually, some of us have lived here much longer,

and that's the reality of it. And Ecclesiastic says, God sets the

time to be born, and he sets the time for people to die.

There is a time for sorrow, there's a time for joy. He sets

the time. Whatever you may put in your diary, God is the one

that essentially sets the calendor of your life and the seasons of your life.

And you cannot set the times. That's something that we need to understand.

Yet, what you do with the times that God says is going to determine

whether life has a point or not. Does that make sense. That's why

the message is entitled responding to God's timing, a time to respond, third

time to respond. So it's a balance, no, because God says the

time. But what you do with the times he's said is your responsibility.

How you respond to the tides and the abbs is basically our responsibility. Responsibility.

You see, the secret of success in evangelism is also to sense when

God's spirit is preparing a situation and to get in there and capitalize on it.

You know, we've been talking that all may know that all may know

it's basically a team on evangelism. That's the team for us this year.

And I know evangelism is probably one of the hardest things for us to do,

to go and tell people about Jesus. But it's about timing, and

we know for our church the time is now. We've got to sense the

time and we've got to heed it when it's hot. That's how surfers know

when they want to write the waves. What they do is they usually head

out to the shaw and then they look over the horizon and they are studying

the waves and they are looking for the right time to head out to write

the wave. If not, they will peddle all the way out and have

to peddle all the way back because there's nothing to push them back to the

shaw. We as believers need to learn how to do that as well.

That is saying what Ecclesiastics is saying. Because God sets the time, but

if you respond to it and seize the time, then you will be discovered

in Him. Or I want to be discovered in God. I want to

be in his presence. So in other words, your life is not just

spend one thing to dance and to laugh and be happy and to build.

But if you seize the times of sorrow, if you seize the times of

morning, if you seize the times of laws and you respond to them rightly,

you can weave everything into a life that is not pointless, but it's

going to be filled with purpose. I believe that with all my heart.

And that is a message, and it is a message that is very relevant

to all of us because that's what we are always asking why why? Why

does I mean, even coming here, a lot of questions will ask why

why do we need to move our Well, we don't have another building,

basically no choice. No, but why this time? Know when everything is

nice and comfortable? Why? I don't know, but I know we need

to seize it. I may not have all the answers as to why,

but I know this is what God is telling me. All of us have

a part to play. So King Solomon in Ecclesiastistry from the onset, he

actually arrived at this understanding. He arrived at this understanding and it's a dichotomy.

This is his observation, and he says life is full of contrast and

life is full of continuity. Makes sense, I will explain, and you'll

probably make sense after a while. On the one hand, that seems to

be seasons which alternate with each other, and yet on the other hand,

there is a sameness about everything because it just comes back again and again and

again. And this is so true to life, right. Your life is

made up of contrast moments when you have been so happy, so elated,

so excited, and then a contrasting moment where you are down, where you're

set, where you're disappointed. So there is a contrast there, and yet

somehow the contrast keeps recurring, so that life is a series of ups and

downs? Is that not true? That is life as it is, and

God has set life as it is. We know this is true. If

you're a musician, you understand this. It's called the rhythm of sorrow and

joy. Even in music, there are high notes, there are low notes,

there are middle notes, and there are some notes that we shouldn't try

to heat because we can't. It's the reality of it. But you understand

that rhythms of sorrow, rhythms of joy, rhythms of birth, rhythm of

death. And even today there are people dying and there are people being born,

and that is what I call the rhythm of life. So In this

passage there are seven verses, which for the Hebrew is actually the perfect number.

And somehow the number seven seems complete. It's a complete number. That's

the understanding of seven. I wouldn't go and delve into the teaching on the

number seven, but just understand it is God's number seven completion. So this

writer, King Solomon says seven times look at the contrast of life. In

each of those seven verses, there are usually two contrasts. One is something

that he welcomes, and one is something that is a bit distasteful and usually

frown upon. One is something that we have all the time, and the

other is something that we try to keep out of our lives most of the

time. And he begins and ends with the biggest two facts of life.

One are the biggest two facts of life wealth first and foremost. The biggest

individual fact of life is this birth and death. No matter what, you

can't run away birth and death. And we do it actually here, even

here in service no one moment we are celebrating hey, baby Ray. And

then after that this is one of the most difficult things for a chairperson actually

like no celebrating birthday, celebrating birds as slid. Uh. Yeah, there

we got to okay, But we also stand alongside our partners who have lost

love once. We do it all the time, and that's the reality of

it. And when I the other the other big fact is a social fact,

war and peace, birth and death, war and peace. If I

look back upon my life, actually these two couplets has covered most of my

life. Think about it for all of you all here, no matter how

young or old you are, you look back, you will still see births

and deaths, and you will still see war and peace. It's an ongoing

thing. And I don't know the day of my death, but I know

the day of my birth. My life started with birth, and you will

end with death. And this is life as it is. One contrast after

another year. This contrast seem to keep on coming. So we know that

there is a continuity, a sameness about everything. Now that is what Ecclesiastic

is saying. And nothing lasts forever, but nothing is totally destroyed. People

are born and people die, and yet it all goes just the same way.

Now that is the pattern of life. Let's turn now to the second

question that Solomon was asking. Who calls the tune? Then? Who decides

the seasons? Who is the real power? Who decides next year this time

what I'm supposed to do? Or who decides whether I'm supposed to be happy?

Or said? Who decides? And there are only a few possibilities?

Okay, is it chance or is it choice? I'm I mean by that

either the seasons are impersonal forces beyond anyone's control, or someone is controlling it.

Which is it? Now? You have to decide, no, right

now, which of those your answer to life is going to be, because

that is going to be the philosophy in which you live by. That's the

reality of it. It is easy sometimes to say this is no, I

live by the philosophy of peri chants chants, And a lot of people believe

in chance. In fact, a lot of people say that we are a

product of chance. We're a product of sheer luck. That's what we agree

on when we say we agree that the earth happened just by flow boom,

something came into being and then humans were formed, like from from some monkey

or something like that. Okay, but how it came into creation was actually

flu USh luck by luck, you know. And really a lot of people

actually subscribe to them. Everything is lucky and lucky. I came to the

lucky lucky, I came to church normal past. This message very powerful,

but really I want you to know that the Bible has got nothing to do

with luck, because we do not believe that the seasons are set by blind,

impersonal forces of faith. But then there are some who say, well,

it is my choice. I am the captain of my faith. Faith,

I'm the master of my So I decide to be happy, I'll be

happy. I decide to dance, I'll dance. I'll decide to defy faith.

I'll defy faith. But then Jesus goes on to say, tonight,

your soul I will require of it. That means Jesus can take you anytime.

Then there are those who say, my faith is actually determined by others.

This is not a very Malaysian thing. Everything, well, blame other

people. Okay, drive on the road, amen, the traffic, the

governments for drive on the road, Like, why can't make you turn your

governments? Fat? We blame, we blame everything and everyone. Have you

noticed that it's always like that, it's either one or the other. So

who sets the seasons? Some people say I set the season? Some people

say, I'm the one that chose it. Some people say they set the

seasons. They are the one that chose it. They are the ones to

be blamed if we have sorrow instead of joy, because it's their fault.

But this book comes out very clearly with the answer. God sets the times,

He sets the season. It is God who will decide when you die.

It is God who decides whether next week will be a good one or

a bad one for you. It is God who moves circumstances so that those

circumstances can either exhalt you or humble you. It is God who makes you

rich awkward. It is he who decides whether you'll be celebrating at a wedding

or you'll be moaning at a funeral. How you respond to God's calendor is

going to be the secret to whether you find a real point of your life.

Now, that is Ecclesiastic's answer to the question as to who is the

real power. So it is not in your power. It is not in

my power to control the seasons. We can't. It's not in the power

of faith to control the seasons. It is God who sets the clock.

It is God who sets the time for your circumstances, and it is quite

an act of faith to believe this in all honesty. You know I heard

different ones. Coach Albert our DVFC coach. Okay, you all watched today

we are having a game quarterfinals. So if you want to go and support

something, Arena twenty two twenty six some number one. Okay, go and

support coach Albert has stood here on a few occasions. I remember and he

shed how he prayed very hard to God on certain mornings of the training sessions

to not rain, because when it rains it's very hard for them to have

training for the football team. Lightning, thunder, et cetera. And some

people will say, why no need to pray to God for the weather,

and because really the weather is outside our control. It's all faint. No,

it's it either rains or doesn't rain. I believe God is in control

of the weather. I really believe it with all my heart, and I

believe it is right actually to say that I pray to the God I believe

who can alter the weather, because the weather is not determined by just the

environment and the circumstances around you. No weather, there's small moisture in the

air, so happened that they know someone flew a plane over and their cloud

seeding and that's why it's going to rain. No, I really believe that

God is in control. And it takes a lot of faith for someone to

actually come up and testify that I prayed to God so that he can blow

the rain clouds away, because sometimes it can make that person look really stupid.

So yo, I'm sure here it's a prayer for whether when the rain

is going in Malaysia is almost you know, monsoon season guarantee or rain and

I guarantee, you know, no point praying and no need to pray.

But Coach Albert in his I believe childlike faith, and time and time again

he has come out. He stood up here and he shd I prayed for

the rain to go away because I can't. I can't do this andless God

comes to it's faith. And therefore, if I can now say this,

that means there must be a purpose, because God is not a purposeless man.

If he gives me an unhappy week this week, then there is a

reason for that. It is an act of faith to believe that God sets

the seasons. We've got to look at it from that anger. We see,

right from the very beginning, God made the heavens and the earth,

and then eventually he made humans, all with a purpose. I'm telling you

this. We are not creatures of accident. We are not creatures of chance.

A lot of times on I know, we we like to joke I'm

an accident accident child from my parents. No matter how much you think you're

an accident child, it's still you still came from a choice. Someone decided

to do something. Well, two people decided to do something and it happened.

That's the reality of it. And so God is not purposeless. Right

from the very beginning, everything that God did had a purpose. And so

but it takes faith actually to believe that God had a purpose right from the

very beginning. And so I believe that because I can say God is not

a purposeless God. And therefore I don't have to subscribe to fatalism, which

says there's nothing I can do about it except to just put up with it.

I just pulled up with it, you know, if it's going to

range just I know. Sometimes we hear our brethren from the other faith,

you will say, to conduct to hunt, there's nothing we can do about

it, that's fatalism. Actually, I believe that we can. We can

actually pray and ask God to do something because ultimately we are acknowledging that He

is in control. Amen. So faith says, what is God saying to

me by setting this season? God? What are you telling me? So

here's an example. Okay, And we may not understand four seasons, but

if you do winter time. We don't know what winter time is. It's

pretty cold. If you have not experienced winter in some countries, go and

try it. Winter Time is not a time that we want to defy the

season and say I'm going to go out in my swimming trunks right now and

I'm going to go for a swim in the morning. You can do that.

You are free actually to defy the seasons. But the truth of the

matter is it's going to be cold in winter. That is a really predestined

when winter comes, it's going to be cold. How you respond to it,

how you choose to cooperate with it or you want to rebel against that

fact is entirely human freedom. You can choose to do what you want with

it. I know past the job. V Jay tells me winter time in

Melbourne, I hate out to swim early in the morning, and I say

you could cool you crazy flow two degrees and he goes for a swim.

Bye. Well, it's human freedom. But the fact is it's cold.

So God says the time to moan, and you can laugh if you can

laugh it off, if you wish. Some people know it's time to moan,

but we are laughing. God says, the time when you can respond

and repent, but you can choose to harden your hearts. That's what the

Pharaoh did, right, because God chose that there was a time and a

season for you to repent. By Ye, Pharaoh hardened his heart. And

Pharaoh hardened his heart first before God actually eventually harden his heart on his behalf.

God says, the season when you can rejoice. You can say,

I'm not going to dance, I'm not going to be happy. God will

not force you to go with the times. But a person is wise who

moves with the times that God has said in his life. That is the

message here in Ecclesiastics. Someone is wise who when God says it's summertime,

okay, time to put on the sun sunscreen, time to pack my sunglasses,

and time to go sunbathing, that's the right time. And then when

it's wintertime. Okay, God, I praise you for the winter because I

know there is something that you are trying to tell me and teach me during

this season of my life as well. I know wintertimes. Actually I personally

like wintertimes. I'm happy when it's cold. But in reality, four seasons.

Reality, there is always the time in which I got a hospital doctor

who told me this once. It's a time when suicide rates are up and

people are mostly depressed because it's long nights so you don't get a lot of

sun and it's cold. Uh. And so you know, during that time,

especially in Edinburgh where this doctor was working, she told me, uh,

they used to get calls from people, especially elderly, because they're just

lonely, and they called to just ask the ambulance to come pick them up.

They go to the ane and then they're like, so what's wrong with

you? And then like no, I just I just really wanted someone to

come again. Lonely seasons, but it can be it can be a dull,

said moment. But what you do with it? What do you do

in those times? And someone is wise when he is a picture of health

and is enjoying being alive and reading and says, Praise God, I'm well

and I enjoy It is also wise sometimes when sickness do come, then you

say, God, what are you saying to me? And that's something that

I have applied in my own life when things don't go the way I hope

for it, when I'm down with something that I know does not belong in

my body, I have to ask God, what are you saying to me?

Instead of sometimes our initial reaction is always why you allow this to happen

to me? No asking what are you saying to me? And this is

when we move on, thirdly and finally to this part, which is the

purpose of life. And again we see how honest Solomon is, because actually

justice is honest enough to say, I have searched all my life and I

cannot see the point. I have not found the pattern. I have not

found the purpose. Therefore I have to come to terms with my life and

all its content, all the garage, all the rast, all the things

that are man I just that is Solomon talking, actually, and that's the

reality of it. Because he was disillusion He was disappointed towards the end,

and you know this. I will be telling you a life. I say,

I promise you if you become a Christian, it will be a life

full of dancing, no moaning, just dancing, singing. Every morning you

wake up, you look forward to life and look forward to God. No,

it's so great being a Christian. I'll be telling you a downright line.

But if I can lead you to a faith that says, even in

those bad things, that God has set the time for he knew what he

was doing, and he was weaving a most beautiful picture which you can see.

How would you feel? You feel different? Because ultimately in the Old

Testament they couldn't quite see the full picture. And that's why Ecclesiastics is a

little bit more pessimistic in its writings. I don't blame them because it was

still in the Old Testamenty how did the author cope with it? How did

ex Solomon cope with it? Well, he said, you, God,

you have set eternity in man's mind. Here, you prevented man from grasping

the meaning of life. That was how he was coping. He was copying

it with a bit of a complaint. Actually, but what he means is

this, No, it is us looking at this big painting with tiny magnifying

glass. It's a big painting. God has a big picture, but we

are just seeing a little bit of him, bits and pieces, and we

wonder, we are wondering in our what what is it that we are looking

at? Well, in the New Testament, God reveals what he is doing.

Praise God, because after we study this chapter, we can now today

we have the freedom and liberty to flip to the New Testament, and then

the passages sort of taxt me. It sort of takes this magnifying glass away,

and I'm starting to see in a broader perspective. Or if you are

looking at it from a weaving, a canvas, a tapestry, maybe it's

time for us to go towards God's sign, and then you start seeing things

a little bit differently. That's what the New Testament is doing, because we

know the New Testament is the Old reveal. The Old Testament is the New

concealed. They couldn't see it back then, but once they hit over to

the other side, they started seeing the revelation amazing. And if you turn

to Ephesians chapter one, you will read in all his wisdom and insight,

God has made known towards the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,

which he purposed in Christ. This plan, which God will complete when

the time is right, is to bring creation together everything in heaven and on

earth with Christ as the heat. See the secret has been told. I

now know what God is doing in my life. I now know why he

sets the season because everything has got to be summed up in Christ Jesus.

That is his purpose. And you will see this when you get into Christ,

and when you become a Christian, you see the picture that is this

all word isn't just going through cycles sometimes that's how we feel, right.

It's continuity. Life is full of contrast and continuity. As though we are

here in this technanm point in life and there is a washing machine. We're

just going in circles and circles and circles. It isn't just seasons repeating,

because know this. In Christ, there is always a stunt, and there

is always an end. It is aligned. We are moving. The end

is that one day there will be a Christian universe. That's what it means.

By your kingdom come, your will be done. That is God's big

picture, and He's fitting it. All together. And that is the grand

purpose that God is worth looking out through us. What He has worked in

our lives. We now must work it out. See, we only see

the bits of it and pieces of it, the times in which it sets

in our life, the time of our birth, the time of our death.

God said to be part of his perfect plan. What amazing concept.

And I pray we see it because it is then that you begin to say

some really confident things once you know this, because it is only as you

respond to Jesus Christ that you can begin to now say with absolute certainty,

I know that all things work together for the good of those who love God

and are called according to His purpose. Amen. I now know that the

dancing and the morning, the planting and the ripping, every experience that is

set for me by God is going to work for good and be part of

the most beautiful tapestry, a beautiful picture. So whatever experiences come to you,

whatever God's times are set for you, you can say, my time

is in your hands. Amen. All things are brought into life, and

all things are brought into Christ. And I can suffer in Christ as well

as done in Christ. We can. If you think you can't know the

Gospel is a gospel of persecution and suffering, and I pray that we learn

how to suffer in Christ, not reluctantly, not with a lot of hatred

in our lives. But yet know that, Lord, what a privilege it

is for me to suffer for you, because you went through it all yourself.

First life has become whole. Now it's a beautiful thing. And that's

what that phrase my times are in your hand really means. It's actually from

Psalms chapter thirty one, fifteen, but just a few verses before that phrase,

we actually read in verse five, into your hands, I commit my

spirit. Does that sound familiar? Who said that, Jesus? This is

in some so it has not yet happened. So Jesus, we knew,

was a young man thirty three years old, but his life was cut short

by wicked people around him, A young man who was in the prime of

his life. But somehow people felt that he was not good, even though

he was good. He is good and he is God. So Jesus had

only such a short public life, no ministry, especially three short years,

and people could say, oh, what a waste, what a tragedy.

But from the sound that said my times are in your hands. Actually comes

those words into your hands. I commit my spirit, or another way of

saying it. I think it's in John. It is finished time, completion.

See Jesus may not have traveled the world, and we know he was

just around that area. He may not have written many books, he may

not have had a big social circle, he may not have gone outside his

nation, but he had fulfilled the most beautiful and perfect picture of life that

has ever been because in those three short years he had responded to the times

which the Father had set for him earlier, when they had tried to kill

him, he said, my time has not yet come John chapter two.

That's I think the account of the wedding in Canada. He knew what time

it was. He knew when it was time to rejoice and make merry with

his friends. And they call him a glutton, actually they call him a

drunkard. But he knew, he knew when God the Father had set the

time for him to go to Jerusalem and to die. Even though what the

people wanted was him to go to Jerusalem and set them free from political or

presses, but he knew he had a purpose to go and set them free

from sin. He always knew what time he was, not by his watch,

because he didn't have a watch, he didn't have a calendar, but

he always knew what time it was. Have you noticed that? And he

knew whether it was time to rejoice or time to be said. You see

when they criticize him when they were at a party, he said, now

it's not the time to fast. Now is the time to rejoice, nor

is it the time to be said. But there will come a time for

them, and you need to know how to respond during that time. He

knew when it was time to break a person down, to wreck a person,

and he knew when it was time to build a person out. Some

people's lives he took a part he did, and some people's lives he built

up. He knew when it was time for war and when it was time

for peace. And his times were perfectly in the hands of the Father.

So when Jesus came to the end of it, even though he had only

done three years of public ministry, he said, Father, into your hands,

I commit my spirit. His times were in the Father's hands, and

it was time to die, and Jesus knew the time, and it was

time to go home. He had known the time, and he had done

everything that the Father wanted him to do. Amen. You see, that

is all the time that you and I have got. We don't really have

a lot of time to spend. Sometimes we think we got all the time

in the world, because we only have one life and we live it once.

It's just long enough to do everything that God wants you to do,

and he has set the time. It's too short to waste an your way.

No one commentator that she says, his life is long enough to live

out God's purpose, but it's too short to waste a moment. So I

plead with you, whether you are young, whether you're old, do you

realize what time is it? For some of us, it's high time we

seek the Lord. For some of us, it's high time we serve the

Lord. For some of us, it's high time we follow the Lord.

For some of us, it may be time to get married. For some

of us, it may be time to find a new job. I don't

know, but you need to seek the Lord and find that time. For

some, it could be time to dance. For some it could be time

to mourn. But we don't need to be faithalistic. We don't need to

go. Everything is just in faith's hands. Everything is left to chance of

faith. No, you need faith. My times are in your hands God.

Whatever this week brings, I will call it beautiful because you have set

it. And this is how the Book of Ecclesiastis ends. Not in chapter

three, but I believe in chapter twelve. After all that Solomon has complained

and talked about and mentored and you know, reflected, he says this,

here is my final conclusion. Fear God, obey his commandments, for this

is the entire duty of men. For God, You're judges for everything we

do, including every hidden thing, good or bad. So these are the

three helpful points to note as I end today's message. Remember remember, Solomon

actually urges his hearers please remember, especially those who are young. Remember God,

don't forget Him. That's why we actually partic of communion. We're doing

in remembrance of Him. And this advice comes from old men. Okay.

He's saying that he would not have faced all the difficulties that he has faced

in life if only he had remembered God earlier. Remember God. Second thing

is this, he urges his hearers to fear God. You see all the

wisdom literature of the Bible, whether it's Palm's proverbs, you actually see this.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you truly

fear God, you will not fear anyone or anything else. And we must

fear God because ultimately He's going to ask each one of you for an account

of your life. It can be writing on someone else's life, It can

be writing on someone else's faith. It can be the preacher didn't teach me,

my pastor didn't show me that. We know it is our life.

We will have to give an account for it one day. And that's why

Jesus told his followers not to fear those who can kill the body, but

rather fear the one who can throw the body to hell. Strong words.

You see people outside the church don't fear God. And we know a lot

of people outside the church don't fear God for natural reasons. Believe it's usually

because people inside the church don't fear God. Don't we live alife where there

is no reverence to God. There is a reason why we do what we

do. Even Sundays, I pray you will keep it holy, not just

Sundays actually every other day of our lives. But if you can't even keep

a Sunday holy and pure and present it under the Lord, how are we

going to be able to say that I truly fear God and I revere him.

That means I completely respect him. Obey it's the last one. Solomon

knew that he had not obeyed God as he should. Nevertheless, he tells

his readers now to be careful and please obey God. He now knows that

God's laws are given for our good, not to make life miserable, but

to make the most of it. That's what we sometimes think of life right

with laws and regulations, and know all these things that are put in place

is to make life miserable. By God is saying that I put in all

this to help you make the most of life. He talks of this as

a whole duty of men. Our responsibilities are more important than our rights.

Let's not go around seeking and trying to ascertain what our rights are, because

that's what this world is teaching us. What is our right? What is

our right? We want to exercise our rights? No, I think it's

high time we ask God what is our responsibility and how are we supposed to

live our lives in accordance to your plan and your purpose? You see,

the Book of Ecclesiastics shows the limits of human wisdom, and it's a reminder

of the sort of person we will become if we don't discover God's way to

live. That's why I say, I pray that we will discover God in

all this. God has included this. I find it a very strange book

in the Bible, but I believe He wants us to examine all the wrong

ideas. There are a lot of wrong ideas and wrong suggestions if you read

the Book of Ecclesiastes. Even so the sounds so other things it says is

like you're supposed to ponder, not going to use it, and like all

the other you see, he says can can do this. No, there

are some wrong ideas. Actually, you actually see a lot of different ideas,

whether it's fatalism, existentialism, all these different ideas in scriptures. But

I think what is therefore is to help us examine the wrong ideas along with

the good and the true ideas. We need to know the signs and the

times. It tells us that if we don't understand the meaning of life from

Heaven's angle and from the angle of the next world. We will end up

this illusion. We will end up depressed, we will end up disappointed.

And of course the Bible doesn't leave us with the pessimism of this book,

and I thank god it doesn't just end with one book called Ecclesiastis, because

the New Testament now tells us that Christ is our wisdom. Though true him,

we find out both why and how we should live. And that's what

the Bible is all about. Why what is the meaning? It's all there.

It gives us purpose. That's why John seventeen tells us that true life

is to know him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, one who

ensures that life does have meaning and purpose. So what has God God in

mind for his ultimate plan? What is God after in all this? Why

is he spending his grace so lavishly on us? Because God, in his

infinite wisdom, has shown us the plan. And Christians know what God's plan

for the universe is. You know it because you pray, and you're supposed

to pray every day. Your kingdom come, your will be done. God's

plan is for his kingdom to come here and for all things to unite in

Christ Jesus, all things in heaven and all things on earth. That's in

efficient chapter one verse. Then that's then, and let's respond to the Great

God because we know and we now know his plan and there is nothing outside

of Christ, Jesus, world and universe such an amazing plan. God's plan

is for the ages in the fullness of time, is for this Christian universe

to come about. Everything I believe is going to become of Christ. Amen.

And this is why as believers, we know there is this plot,

there is this reedom, there is this pattern, and it is this all

the universe is going to belong to God finally and eventually. Right now,

he still says that Satan is the prince of this world, but there will

come a point of time that will come a day you realize Satan is the

prince of this world. And that's why when Satan was trying to tempt Jesus

say that I can give you all these things, you realize not once the

Jesus actually rebuild here and say, no, these are not yours to give,

because he acknowledged that Satan is in control of at least what we think

this world is right now, but we know one day God will come and

he will take over. In fact, I believe the time is now and

here because salvation is now and here. That means it has already begun,

It has already started. But it will one day come to full completion.

One day we will see this redom come to a full no and the pattern

will be so clear. And that is why more people must hear the Gospel

today than ever before. That is also why I realize there are more Bibles

written in different languages today than he has ever been available. These are all

significant events because God is calling out people of every tribe every time. We

all have a role to play. Thank God for telling me about all this.

Thank God for telling us about all this. We are not lost anymore,

and we are not afraid to go even another year, even those circumstances

are going to be challenging. Don't be afraid of changes. Don't be afraid

of a change in place, in the change or in time in the change

in venue, because ultimately, if you can see the plan of God,

the great plan that He has showed you, you'll be asshured. Let's look

heaven words. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information

on our church, please visit church org. We are also active on Facebook

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a hit for you. God bless